Tag: Public Relation

Discovering the Importance of Public Relations in the Hospitality Industry

Presenter(s): Esther Wooding − Public Relations, French

Faculty Mentor(s): Donnalyn Pompper

Poster 112

Research Area: Public Relations In The Hospitality Industry

The purpose of my research was to investigate how public relations is practiced within the hospitality industry. A study was created to discover how PR skills were being applied within the field, to discover any problems the industry faces, and to connect with professionals and gauge their experiences in their career. The study comprised of three interviews
with professionals, along with secondary research about the history, issues, ethics, and valued skills of public relations in hospitality. Throughout my research, I discovered that one of the main aspects of public relations in the hospitality industry is the role of social media and influencers. With increasing competition, I found that it is important to target a wide demographic and maintain a thorough and constant assessment of the public’s preferences. After interviewing practitioners in the field, one of the hardest tasks of public relations in hospitality is remaining current and staying ahead of your competitors. My findings indicated that public relations is an extremely important facet of hospitality. Garnering what the public is seeking, shaping your brand to this standard, and explicitly indicating this to that same public is critical for the success of a hotel. These are all jobs of a public relations practitioner. Constantly dealing with people and providing them a service they will enjoy takes a lot of prerequisite research, crisis management, image shaping, and networking. Ultimately, this research demonstrated the importance of public relations in hospitality and the skills necessary for entering and remaining successful in this field.

Understanding the Wine Industry’s Influence on Culture of the Pacific Northwest

Presenter(s): Michelle Miller − Public Relations

Faculty Mentor(s): Dean Mundy, Kim Sheehan

Poster 111

Research Area: Public Relations: Circuit of Culture

The wine market creates an opportunity for wine regions to produce powerful stories that reflect tradition and characterize a lifestyle. The relationship between wine and culture is a significant factor to identify when exploring the implications these elements play within the wine industry. The specific research question of this project is: How does the wine industry influence the culture of the PNW, in comparison to Italy? This is important because it can provide journalists and researchers with a tool to help further understand the impact of the wine industry on a larger scale. This can interconnect the food and beverage industry and provide a resource for audiences to understand how culture plays an active role in marketing. While this project has a defined research question, I want to understand what differs in terms of wine culture when examining the wine industry among different regions and how wine tourism plays a role in wine culture. Furthermore, I want to explore how the circuit of culture plays a role in influencing the PNW and the Italian wine industry and what attracts consumer engagement to these particular regions. In terms of marketing, it is imperative to evaluate the fundamental differences when comparing the PNW to the Italian wine industry, locally and internationally. Similarly, it is vital to examine if wine tourism and culture are the driving forces behind wine marketing. These explorations will provide support for the question my research will address. I plan to use both Qualitative and Quantitative methods for my research. For my qualitative research, I will create interview questions for individual interviews.Many of the research questions provided will be based on the Circuit of Culture. This will provide perspective in the professional realm within the wine industry. Quantitative data is also fundamental to my research, particularly when referencing factors that deal with the Circuit of Culture. This includes consumption, production, and regulation. I will create a survey using Qualtrics to further understand the PNW and Italian wine region markets. This survey will help me gain general knowledge of behavior based on the circuit of culture. Additionally, I find it important to use a social media audit when observing the wine market. This is particularly significant because I am examining many elements of a domestic and international market. The social media audit will examine wine tourism and wine marketing through the most used platforms in the PNW and Italy. This will support my research and demonstrate how the wine industry is represented to a larger market.